Diamond marker for Bunbury couple

Love, understanding and forgiveness is what fuels a happy marriage, according to John and Fay Cole, who are approaching their 60th wedding anniversary.

The Coles met in Bunbury in the 1950s and while John’s work took them to cities across Australia and the world, they always considered Bunbury home.

“Bunbury is the home of our heart. We love living here,” Mrs Cole said.

The pair met when they were teenagers after Mr Cole moved to Australia from England and got a job as a reporter at the South Western Times.

“I was absolutely gobsmacked when I saw her,” Mr Cole said.

“She was stunning and I thought I had no hope.”

They got engaged when Mrs Cole was 17 and Mr Cole 19 and were married the next year on July 7.

“I picked my flowers on the way to the church and it was pouring rain and freezing cold,” Mrs Cole said.

“But it was in a church and that was what we wanted.”

Mr Cole joined the air force where he spent 20 years working his way through the ranks as an education officer.

“He dragged me around Australia. We lived in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and also Penang,” Mrs Cole said.

It was in Malaysia the pair found Christianity, which shaped the rest of their lives and led them to work as pastors in Manjimup for 14 years, before settling down in Bunbury again.